Beginning of a Complicated Relationship
by Hannah Lynn McDonald
Summary: Henry Morgan's very first death.


He sighed, pulling open the drawer that held his handkerchiefs, shaking out a clean one.

"Here." He held it out to the young man seated across the desk from him.

The man looked up in confusion, and Death gestured towards him.

"I doubt your garments still hold a fresh handkerchief, so please take this."

He too it, thanking him.

"You aren't the first to have reacted badly to death - there is not much else I can do about it."

He nodded, tucking the handkerchief into a sleeve. "There is always recourse remaining."

"Oh?" He leaned back in his seat. "I have not found it to always be so - more often than not, the door is shut tightly."

"Then find a window and be done," He retorted.

He shrugged. "If there be a window." He paused a moment and then leant forward. "Tell me why, Henry."

"...Why?"

"Yes, why." He flicked a piece of ash from his desk and realigned his pen to be parallel to his ledger. "Why are you here?"

Henry paused, weighing his answer with the care of one tricked before with words. "Because I was shot."

Death smiled slightly at the obvious answer and clarified his question. "Because of your father, or because of the man?"

He opened his mouth immediately to answer, but then hesitated and closed it again.

He waited a few minutes, but his guest was silent. "I really do want to know why you died: for your father, or for the man?"

Henry considered, and then straightened up. "My father stays in England - his actions could have no influence upon upon my own, nor could my death be in any way for him."

"Indeed, because the considerations of one in the distance have no bearing upon actions in the present... But, to lost his son aboard a vessel his old principles demanded that he neither possess nor sail - would that not be a heavy blow?"

Certainty overrode his caution for a bit. "I would not have _died_ merely to prove my father wrong - there are better ways to go about that than stupidity."

"Ah, then it was for the thing you know not - that you would never see again - that you risked all."

"For a _man_!" He jerked upright. "Never a thing - a man."

"Alright! Quite clear. And of course he is a man - all who step through this office are so." He frowned as he thought. "Well, with a few exceptions perhaps - but on the whole 'tis so." He considered Henry for a moment. "And would you do the same, even knowing that your attempt to rescue the men aboard that ship will fail and all will die?"

The blood drained from his face, and he slumped. "They...die? All, without exception?"

Death nodded, carefully watching him.

He bowed his head, struggling a moment for breath. His hands clenched around the arms of his chair, and his voice was low when he finally answered. "I would do it again."

"You would die for nothing."

He nodded his assent. "Better to die for nothing than to betray my principles."

After a few more moments of consideration, Henry realised that death's gaze was still fixed upon him; and he determinedly raised his head to meet the Shade's eyes. The silence stretched on, until Death suddenly relaxed with a smile.

"Yes, I believe you may do nicely."

Henry frowned slightly in confusion. "I beg your pardon?"

"You may correct a mistake made many years before - or, at least shape it into less of a waste, perhaps."

"I do not understand-"

"That is all very well - you will not remember this meeting anyway." He pulled his ledger towards him, lifting the Death Blade.

"Please explain nonetheless, if just for my peace of mind in the moment."

He glanced up. "Can you swim?"

"No, I never felt the need to when I was a youth - and I fail to see how that pertains to your explanation?"

He winced. "Well, you will have learnt the lesson by the end of the night... You will be going back to life; and, unfortunately for you, you will reappear in water each time."

"Return? Each time?"

"At least you will understand and believe the truth quickly..."

"Pray tell, _what_ truth?"

He frowned slightly. "That you will be immortal."

"...Immortal?" He smiled slightly. "I am a doctor - I do know that is impossible."

"And I am Death and have a bit more leeway in this subject than most others." He thought about it for a second, and then continued. "Than any others."

"I was shot. I am a doctor - I am entirely certain that I died. If the wound did not kill me, then the water certainly did. If I were immortal, would I not have survived?"

"Well, perhaps an amendment is necessary: you are immortal _now_. And it is not immortality in that you will not die - _au contraire,_ you will be _very_ familiar with me."

"And...aging?"

"That you will be completely free from."

"Why me?"

He snapped his mouth shut along with the ledger. "Perhaps because you are blessed by Fortuna."

Henry narrowed his eyes.

Death shrugged. "Because I am eccentric at the best of times and have random reasons out of boredom."

"Will it ever be possible to age or die permanently?"

Death shook his head.

"...Have I a choice in this?"

"I am sorry to say not."

"Truly?"

He sighed. "Very much so."

Henry nodded slowly, and then straightened up. "Very well then - I bid you adeui."

"Adeui? No - 'au revoir' rather." He stood, crossing around behind Henry and opening the door leading back to Death. "I will see you quite soon."

" _Soon_?" Henry stared at Death for a moment, before leaving the subject alone and stepping around the Shade through the door.

Death closed the door behind the doctor for a moment, before opening it again. "Hello again, Henry - I assume the sea is rather rough?"

"...I am sorry - how do I know you?" He glanced around the office. "How how did I get here?"

"Well, 'tis a rather long story - you'll figure it out soon."

* * *

 _AN: After writing Harry's resurrection, this idea came next. Especially considering as it originates in this fandom. I apologise... Basically, Adam and Henry are immortal because Death sent them back to life when they should have stayed dead._ _8-3-2015_


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